Maelstrom Campaign - Minor Nations

Free Islands
The Free Islands are one of the most mysterious and dangerous places to travel to in the entire Known World. Located at the very edge of the Maelstrom, the close proximity of those swirling energies combine with dangerous uncharted reefs and currents to make this archipelago remaining beyond the reach of civilisation. According to legend, the Free Islands are the home of pirates and brigands, murderers and monsters, and little else.

The truth is little better than the legends. Every malcontent, heretic and fugitive from justice eventually seems to end up in the Free Islands. You will find all races here, including dracoscions and even dragons. The Free Islands are home to many infamous individuals such as Wugh the Gnoll Pirate, who is said to nail enemies to the front of his vessel, or Viktor the Bearded, a Malathian heretic who is rumoured to burn those whom he claims are cursed by the Gods. Beneath these unlikely tales of unlikeable individuals is a string of islands inhabited by people seeking to make an honest living in a land of their own.

When sailing to the Free Islands it is imperative to take someone who has gone before, to act as a local guide. Travel to a well-known port such as Blind Cove or Midden Point, and then seek further maps and a pilot who knows the waters. Just attempting to sail into the first friendly-looking port and unloading a cargo is asking for trouble. People who have been forced to live in such a perilous location do not do so because they like the view. Some ports have something which resembles an authority; they may even go so far as to have laws. The wise merchant or traveller is advised not to place their trust in such; force of arms remains the best source of legitimacy in the Free Islands.

There are so many diverse peoples living in the Free Islands that every cut of garment, from the heavy Merisusi furs and leathers to the flowing Ruhki pantaloons and the Flembic frockcoat, are to be found here. People wear what they can obtain, and fashions are as likely driven by the latest cargo to find its way to an island as to any individual taste. Weapons are carried openly in most settlements, although this has very little to do with fashion.

Most people keep their beliefs to themselves in these parts and the nature of the land does little to endorse an honest or pious life. Nonetheless the Weaver is well thought of by a few in the Free Islands, and on occasion Her symbol can be enough to get you a bed and a meal. What the Free Islands does have is freedom, it is a haven for those with unusual beliefs. The only persecution you are likely to suffer is from thieves and muggers and they care for a man's belongings not his soul. As a result, there are several small groups with passionately held beliefs and distinctive doctrines based in the Free Islands.

If you trade here you will find that the locals are willing to pay well for most basic products. Many fine things can be bought in the Free Islands, Rukhi jewellery, Malathian ships, Flembic embroidered silks, gold and silver plates from Amun-Sa and slaves of every ilk. Merchants are advised to exercise extreme caution when disposing of items purchased here. There is a reason why everything here is cheap and it usually has something to do with the dubious tales that accompany the sale. There are no rules for successful trade in the Free Islands. Entire settlements can disappear overnight, looted and razed by slavers. Nowhere in the Known World is the opportunity for profit so high and the risk of loss so close.

Gerosos
Gerosos is a confederation of cities who have only recently come together as one nation. The wemic city, Froki, the human city, Lirin, and the mokosh city, Podes, are each large and strong, and dominate wide tracts of land in Gerosos. A new free city, funded equally by the three as the residence of the Magister of Gerosos, is currently under construction in the centre of what is now considered Gerosos. The land around the cities is mainly arable, though there are mines in the hills.

In former times each of the three cities maintained their own armies, supported by mercenaries and aid from allies in times of need. Nestled between Flambard and Amun-Sa, all three cities have repulsed attacks from both nations, due in no small part to the skill and daring of their generals. Gerosan soldiers are well disciplined and capable of executing the complex manoeuvers demanded by their commanders. Until recently progress in science and knowledge has been focussed on weapons of war, and each city has sponsored one or more academies to such research. The newly appointed Magister has made it clear that Gerosos must widen its interests if it is to survive, and has established a powerful Commission on Knowledge which has wide reaching powers to co-opt individuals, research and materials in accordance with a rumoured grand plan.

The discovery of the New World has done much to improve the situation in Gerosos. Spare resources are far too focused on the construction of their new city to support involvement in the new land. However, the opportunities presented have shifted the attentions of powerful neighbours elsewhere. As the new city nears completion it remains to be seen if the Gerosos will begin to look beyond its borders as her rivals have done.

Lyzanium
Lyzanium was the centre of the once great empire of Renius that has long since passed its heyday. Today Lyzanium controls only the island that the city is built on, and with few resources to directly oppose more powerful neighbours it keeps as neutral as it can. The island is in the Sharamoor Sea, half way between Sentoris and Murland. This strategic position gives Lyzanium great importance in the control of shipping and trade between the two continents. It also gives Lyzanium a cosmopolitan population; the city is home to avians, mokosh, wemics and humans in equal numbers.

The survival of Lyzanium as an independent state is perpetuated by the agility of its politicians and diplomats. Whilst most of the surrounding nations would love to conquer the island and seize its harbours, none can tolerate the thought of the island falling to another. Skillful persuasion has meant that Mayan and Gnoll fleets that have set sail for Lyzanium have found their way blocked by Alkonian, Freiboden or Merisusi vessels. Lyzanium is a haven for trade with low taxes which has also helped them gather support from the trade houses.

Decades ago, Lyzanium was a bastion of learned philosophical thought. The only inheritance that remains of that era is the majestic architecture. A city of spires, towers and domes dominating the sky line over its grand ancient walls, its people prize drama, theatre, music and poetry. The mines that once made the island wealthy are long since played out, and the state no longer possesses the means to support great expeditions or found new colonies. The only silver left in Lyzanium is on their tongues.

Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen is a small nation of avians in the mountains between Merisusi and Alkyon. It has been conjectured that the Ascendancy of Schaffhausen had its origins as a mining town in the long vanished empire of Renius. If so, it is possible that its mountainous location allowed its survival after that empire collapsed. Schaffhausen is made up of three districts, or cantons: Unterwalden, Nidwalden and Obwalden. The Ascendancy is geographically small and militarily weak, but it makes up for its shortcomings with wealth. The mines of the Unterwalden canton have remained productive for over fifteen centuries.

That the Ascendancy has maintained its stability for so long is due to an ingrained respect for age which often seems bizarre to outsiders. Schaffhausen is governed by a council of elders known as the Diet of Obwalden which is comprised of any resident of Schaffhausen in good standing who has reached the venerable age of eighty-eight. When the Diet is in session (from just after noon until just before sunset every other day) the balconies of this ancient building are occupied by the red-robed councillors of the Diet, all seated in precise order of age ascending to the narrow top balcony which is the preserve of the eldest, known to the outside world as the “Ascendant of Schaffhausen”. The current Ascendant is the 109 year old Arnhest Winkelreid who has held the office for two years and four months at the time of writing.

Schaffhausen pays its armies of foreign workers and mercenaries well, and even the slaves who work in the very depths of the mines are comparatively well treated: with age comes wisdom and the Diet knows that it cannot allow serious unrest to develop in the Unterwalden. It is rare for agitators to emerge and still rarer for them to escape the attention of certain departments in the Nidwaldenrung for long. The Diet has also long been aware of the covetous glances of certain of its neighbouring states – the next few years will see the completion of the massive fortifications begun during the four year rule of the 321st Ascendant some fifty years ago.

The importance of longevity in the Ascendancy has resulted in a culture which is regarded by others as being risk averse. They appear to take interest only in matters that directly pertain to the stability and security of the Ascendancy. In truth the people of Schaffhausen are cautious and meticulous, the benefits of a gerontocracy which are denied to those nations ruled by kings and queens seeking to build reputations and empires.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.